Laurie Notaro: Toss the Book You Have in Your Purse and Read These Instead

Instead of reading Twilight, read The Brontes Go to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson.
I was hoping this train would run out of gas or coal or whatever it is that trains run on these days, but now that the last installment is in theatres, it will be a while before the Twilight flames are done licking the brains of our young. In any case, I suggest a book that is filled with imagination, weirdness, what is real vs. unreal, and the undead in the form of the ghosts of the Bronte sisters. And the mother is in on it, too!

It is the tale of a widowed mother and her three daughters who live their lives as they spin wildly fantastic imaginative ones. But wait! There's also a mean nanny, a dead circus clown, séances, and while there are imaginary friends, including a judge, there is not one simple vampire. Published in 1931, it will probably be one of the strangest books you've ever read, but if you just relax and go with it, it's one of the most delightful and charming. Not a laugh a minute, but a wonderful example of fantasy crisscrossing over to reality.

To Find: Easy. Bloomsbury recently published the title with a pretty blue cover and is easily available online; in bookstores, it may pose more of a challenge. Well worth it.

Laurie Notaro

Stay tuned for new adventures with Laurie Notaro, and catch up on a few classics in any of her books including The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life,It Looked Different on the Model, I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies), There's a Slight Chance I Might Be Going to Hell, and An Idiot Girl's Christmas at Changing Hands, on Amazon, or through her website.

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